Most of what we think we know about
Socrates comes
from a student of his over forty years his junior, Plato.
Socrates
himself wrote--so far as we know--nothing. Plato (427 to 347
B.C.E)
is especially important to our understanding of the trial of Socrates
because
he, along with Xenophon, wrote the only two surviving accounts of the
defense
(or apology) of Socrates. Of the two authors, Plato's account is
generally given more attention by scholars because he, unlike Xenophon,
actually attended the one-day trial of Socrates in Athens in 399 B.C.E.

Plato's metaphysics and epistemology
appear to
have been originally influenced by Presocratic thinkers. As a
young
man, however, Plato became a student of Socrates and turned his
attention
to the question of what constitutes a virtuous life.

Almost all of Plato's writings date from
after
Socrates's trial and execution. Although Plato earlier showed an
interest in politics, Socrates' death sentence and disillusionment with
the behavior of an oligarchy known as the Thirty Tyrants that assumed
power
in 404 seem to have caused Plato to turn to a life of philosophical
reflection
and writing. (Plato is often closely identified with the
discredited
eight-month rule of the Thirty Tyrants because of the large role played
in that government by his mother's uncle, Critias, and a lesser role
played
by his mother's brother, Charmides. During their brief hold on
power,
the oligarchy practiced widespread executions of political opponents
and
confiscated the property of wealthy Athenians.)

Plato's writings are generally divided
into three
broad groups: the "Socratic" dialogues (written from 399 to 387), the
"Middle"
dialogues (written from 387 to 361, after the establishment of his
Academy
in Athens), and the "Later" dialogues (written in the period between
361
and his death in 347). Three of Plato's four writings concerning
the last days of Socrates come from the earliest "Socratic" period: Euthyphro,
the Apology, and the Crito. Euthyphro is
an
imagined dialogue between Socrates and Euthyphro about piety--Socrates
stood charged with impiety--as Socrates prepared to enter the Royal
Stoa
to formally answer the charges brought against him by Meletus and other
accusers. The Apology is presented as the speech given by
Socrates in his own defense at his 399 trial. The Crito
is
a piece in which Socrates discussed his obligation to accept his
punishment
of death, however unjust he and his supporters might think it to be. Phaedo,
a dialogue describing Socrates' thoughts on death and other subjects
before
he drinks the fatal hemlock comes from Plato's middle, or transitional
period.

Because of Plato's obviously high regard
for his
mentor, many scholars suspect that in his Apology Plato failed
to
disclose some of the most compelling evidence of Socrates' guilt.
While recognizing, of course, that the Apology is not a
verbatim
account of Socrates's speech, other scholars argue that Plato's account
must be fairly accurate. These scholars point out that Plato
wrote
at a time during which he could expect many of his readers to have
firsthand
knowledge of the trial, reducing any incentive he might have had to
present
the case of Socrates too sympathetically. They also note that at
least on two large points, both Plato's and Xenophon's accounts are in
agreement: first, Socrates's speech had a defiant tone (one might call
it an "unapologetic" apology) and, second, Socrates most likely
could have secured acquittal had he only been willing to make certain
concessions
to his jurors.